Over 1 Crore Fraudulent Mobile Connections Disconnected With Help Of Sanchar Saathi: DoT

New Delhi: Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said that till date more than one crore fraudulent mobile connections disconnected with the help of Sancharsaathi.

"The DoT launched a citizen centric platforms, Sanchar Saathi (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in), to fight cyber fraud, enabling citizens to report suspicious calls & messages. Till date more than one crore fraudulent mobile connections disconnected with the help of Sancharsaathi. Further, 2.27 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked for involvement in cybercrime /financial frauds," DoT said.

To curb the menace of spam calls, TRAI has directed telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities using bulk connections for spam calls, including robocalls and pre-recorded calls. In the last fortnight over 3.5 lakh such numbers have been disconnected and 50 entities have been blacklisted. In addition, around 3.5 Lakh unused/ unverified SMS headers and 12 Lakh content templates are blocked.

In parallel, with an objective of improving the network performance, benchmarks are to be gradually tightened for key network parameters like network availability, call drop rates, packet drop rates, etc. In this regard, TRAI has released its revised regulations, “The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024 (06 of 2024)’.

These regulations will come into effect from October 01, 2024 and from 1st April 2025 monthly monitoring of QoS performance of mobile service will be started instead of quarterly basis. 

The TRAI has also issued consultation papers on provisions of immediate suspension of services of Unregistered Telemarketers on receipt of complaints beyond a pre-defined threshold number, and implementation of proactive detection and action on suspected spammers.